This invention is directed to a toy which includes a housing having a movable means thereon capable of reciprocally moving in an arcuate pathway with respect to the housing. An impulse means is located on the housing in association with the movable means. The impulse means is capable of interacting with the movable means at at least two points within the arcuate pathway travelled by the movable means, and is capable at each of these points of reversing the direction of the movement of the movable means.
Toys which involve the passing of an object back and forth between two players or stations are known and described in patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,735,682; 3,857,564; 3,416,799; 2,799,501; Fench Pat. No. 1,066,421 and French Pat. No. 584,149. These toys are generally directed to competitive toys wherein two players oppose each other and attempt to pass a ball or disk from a first station to a second station or to an object receptacle such as a basketball hoop or the like.
Other toys are known wherein a tethered ball, tethered on a string, a pole attached to a flexible support or the like are known, wherein two players utilizing paddles, or some sort of mechanical paddles, bounce the tethered ball back and forth between each other. As with the previous group of patents, this type of toy is directed to a competitive type of toy between two people, and is not very suitable for use by pre-school children or the like, because of their lack of coordination and their inability and/or frustration in using the above noted toys.
Juggling is a very old art, and seems to fascinate young and old alike. As with the above noted competition type toys between two individuals, juggling is not a skill which is really attainable by a preschooler because of the lack of coordination.